Le Chambre de Pete *Pictures*
Well I promised you pictures and here they are. Here's a mini-tour of where I'm living:
A shot from the backyard, this is the "Blue House" (which is actually mostly yellow, but no worries) that some of the staff at the hostel stay at. There's about 6 of us in there now, including myself, and it's a fairly good place. A definate step up from staying in dorms with 12 other people.
This is the "sitting room" which has the TV, VCR, DVD player, and the Xbox. (To all of you that thought I would go crazy with a lack of these things, I told you I'd figure it out!) It also acts as a dining room and living room. The three guys are James, Will, and Wazzoo and are deep in a game of cricket.
This is our main kitchen, two fridges and a little stove with a sink. It's "fairly" clean, in which case I mean the roaches are small and easy to kill. It actually is clean, but I usually wash dishes before I use them...the bugs here are literally everywhere. Oh, the bathroom is next to the kitchen and its got a nice shower in it, but frankly it's not worth the picture.
And so we go downstairs to find my bedroom. Directly ahead on that landing you can see a little door that takes you to the "Hobbit Hole", which is a little room with a toilet and a sink. I literally can't even stand up in it, the roof is so low and the floor is high. Very odd. To the right of that door is the second kitchen.
When I first moved in this room was nothing more than a sink, some shelves, and a couple of really really old seasonings. Looking around the house I managed to find an old electric element, moved some dishes down here, and loaded up my food, effectively making myself a second kitchen. It's really nice to come down here when the kitchen is full upstairs, as it's a little cooler and I can cook whatever I need to easily. The only thing is lacks is a fridge, but I have a little cooler/bag that keeps things cold while I'm cooking.
Ah, my pantry. As you can see, all the basics are covered. I've got cereal, bread, some granola bars for when I go to the beach, pasta, sauce, peanut butter, some water, and sugar cubes for my tea. And, of course, I've got the local rum and some cokes. The only thing I'm missing is my milk, juice, and fruits and veggies, but they're upstairs in the fridge.
This is just the view leaving the second kitchen. That door with the two stickers is the door to my room.
This is my little personal touch. Of course, it might need a little explanation. Notice is says "aka Bruce" after my name. Since I've been here it seems half the people I know prefer to call me Bruce. Why? Because of good ol' Bruce's Country Market. People saw the shirts and just made up their own minds what to call me. Eventually it has changed into "Peter the Bruce", which is usually the title I have when working. Good people down here, great sense of humour to this place!
The Blue House again, shot from the street. It's about a 2 minute walk from the Arts Factory and about 5 minutes from town if I have to get there fast.
This is the quickest way to get to my room from the street. Over my little dead patch of grass, (the sod came from the construction next door, they had extra pieces and it was already kind of dead, they were happy to give it to me) I made myself a little walkway over the sand. I have to say, it's nice having a wall that I can just lift up and get rid of.
The little problem with my room is the driveway. Because it slants DOWN to the house, if it rains hard enough my room can get a little water on the floor. I solved that with a tarp! $5.99 at Woolworths (the local grocery chain) and no worries, mate!
And this is my room! Not a bad place if I say so myself. I got here and it was a mess. It took a while, but I finally got everything I need. You can see I've got a nice large bed to myself, a couch, my guitar, my ipod set up beside my bed with some small speakers, a picture of John Wayne that was sitting in the room when I got there, and the BEST thing of all, AN AIR CONDITIONER above my bead. Got that from someone at the Arts Factory. Man that thing is nice. Like walking into a big cooler on a hot day. Bought myself a bike too, $80 and now I can cruise around Byron Bay in style! Plus it makes walking around town a lot easier.
I think that's enough for today. G'day mates, take it easy!
